A Small Encounter
by WorksofArt
Summary: A cold man has a change of heart for a vibrant flamed young girl. Nothing too special, just a 1 shot of Wesker/Claire.


**_A/N: Heya guys, I been on hiatus for quite some time, I still need to finish that good old Survivor story and add some more good stuff. I literally haven't had a chance to myself since I got a new job and I'm in the process of finishing school for my degree, life is especially hectic. I hope this clean one shot is good for you guys and expect an update on survive in a little, hopefully. Thank you for your patience and enjoy uwu!_**

* * *

"Holy shit, I'm freezing my ass off out here." I said out loud, my teeth chattering, surely audible from across the street. I pulled my scarf above my mouth, trying to shield the painful winds biting at my already numbed lips. It was a dead winter day, past Christmas so the awkward time where people were getting late gifts for other who had given out of the kindness of their souls or returning items, which made it all the worse since I was waiting in line that was out the door just for some damn cheddar cheese. My fingers wrapped around my cup of coffee I had just bought next door, which felt almost luke warm by now, holding onto the small warmth and energy i had left, hoping to god I wouldn't collapse on this floor.

The holidays were rough, money was tight as always. Chris always insisted on giving me an amazing Christmas breakfast just like Mom and Dad would have done, including at least one Christmas present to open. Since he got his new job at the police department, he had a steady consistent pay check, but that still didn't make me feel like less of an asshole since I didn't contribute to jack shit. Bless that idiot's soul, the least I could do for him is make him a sandwich. The line started moving, I let out a small thank you to god and pulled my knitted hat down, shielding my ears from the possible frost bite that I might contract.

"Hey Claire!" I looked to see an old friend from high school smiling brightly at me. _Was her name Tiffany, Ginger, or Hannah? Shit, I'll go option number 4, avoiding her name at all cost._

"Hey girl! What have you been up to?" She smiles brightly and gestures towards the door.

"I had a kid, settled down and work part time at the cleaners down town! And you?"

"Oh, you know, school and all. I came down to Raccoon City after I finished the semester to spend time with Chris."

"Oh, what college are you going to?" She asked, her head tilted, eyes sparkling with curiosity, or it may have been the lighting of the store, but she genuinely looked interested.

"Webster University." I simple said. She looked big eyed for a moment, her smile almost forced now.

"I always knew you had a knack for English lit. That university is some ways from here though. Hope you didn't ride on that bike of yours all the way over here." I shrugged nonchalant, it wasn't much to her if I rode old Betsy here or not, but why not entertain myself for a little.

"Yeah, it was a fun ride, nothing too bad and it actually cleared my head after finals." She shook her head and laughed.

"Claire you're crazy, you might get killed one day on that thing."

"Yeah, we'll we all have to die someday." I took a philosophy class, I knew how to embrace my imminent demise.

"Let's hope it's not sooner than later." She said as the line cleared out even more. "So, how's Chris doing?" I eyed her for a second, her name was fuzzed in my mind, but with the statement alone it cleared. It was crazy stalker Tiffany, she had the biggest crush on Chris and was only my friend during High school so she gets a small peek at him at best.

"He's good, he just started a new job so he's out on cop duty." She nodded, pursing her lips for a few moments in thought.

"That's good, it suits him. I hope the new chief isn't too hard on him though. He makes grown men cry from what I heard."

"Oh, you mean Captain Wesker or Captain Marini?" I asked aloud. She nodded instantly at Captain Wesker's name, confirming my suspicions.

"If it's the blonde tall guy with the stupid sunglasses at night dude, it's Captain Wesker. He's one of those kinds of guys you can't help, but wonder about. He's cute and all, but he's so freaking rude. He's the doesn't even know how to say please and thank you kind of rude." She mumbled and the line moved once more.

"Yeah, that's Chris's Captain! Chris told me a little about him. Apparently, he's hand-picked the people in that new group they made for the city. He's some ex-Army officer or something like that, so I guess he knows what he's doing." I shrugged, she seemed to not budge and continued.

"Well he shouldn't treat the job like he's still in the army. I guess he was the one on patrol for the day when I had to call 911 over a noise disturbance of the neighbor's dog. He came over to MY house instead and told me that he can't tell the dog to shut up, and it was 11 pm that there's no way for them to muffle the dog. He said if I have a real emergency I should call 911, that he's not in charge of fixing incompetence in the world." I stifled a laugh at her story, finding it amusing the way he handled the situation and quite creative. "He then directed me to a non-emergency line and suggested I use ear plugs for the night or learn to speak dog, those were my two options. Like for god's sake I have a new born that I can only put down for 5 hours at a time."

"Miss, I can help you over here." I heard the older cashier say, looking between me and my friend, a tight smile that was clearly forced as her eyes looked strained and dark circles decorated her face. I nodded and turned back to Tiffany for a final goodbye.

"I'll tell Chris you said hi, it was nice talking to you Tiff." I said, her eyes instantly lighting up with joy.

"Thanks Claire, you too! Don't be a stranger while you're in town either!" I was only here for a few more days, i knew I wasn't going to hang out with her any time soon, but I smiled like I would. I went up to the counter, quickly pulling out cash as she scanned the item.

"3.22." I handed her a five-dollar bill and grabbed the change in the same motion. I walked out to the blistering cold, feeling my eyes instantly dry at the windy weather. I saw the puffs of my warm breath trying to survive in the cold, but instantly diminishing, being overpowered by the lethal weather. It hurt to breathe this air, every breath being painful jabs to my lungs, I let a sharp shutter out, catching myself off guard. I looked down at my hand to note that I had left my lukewarm coffee on the counter of the store.

 _Great, just my luck._ I thought to myself, letting a small sigh out. I went back to the coffee shop, hoping to god that I could get another hot drink that could hold my insides together long enough for me to make it home. Walking wasn't the smartest idea, but I didn't anticipate the walk being this excruciating, being a mere -7 Celsius. I walked inside, feeling the instant warmth welcome me along with the inviting smell of coffee wrapping around my senses. I smiled to myself, feeling 10x better in a familiar environment and welcoming sensory. This was the coffee shop I'd find myself in during my finals week and SAT preparations, something Chris badgered me on to make sure I studied up for and took very seriously. Thanks to him I got enough financial aid to cover my tuition, but the housing is what still kicked my ass even though it was reduced.

I went up to the counter, waiting in the small line that piled up. I heard the small chime of the door fill the small quarters, my head distinctly turning to see who had entered. Chris taught me to always be aware of my surroundings, no matter the setting - something can go very wrong very quickly and I had to be ready for it. There was a tall blonde-haired man, broad shoulders and athletic build, his eyes shielded from the outer world through a discreet pair of dark sunglasses. His straight nose along with his angelic features gave him the image of a Adonis, flawless saved for a small scar above his right brow. His hair was slightly disheveled, quickly brushing it back when he entered inside. He took off his coat once inside, he wore a tactical vest, his blue navy dress shirt was pulled to his elbows exposing his vascular arms, his forearms flexed as he folded his jacket across his left arm. I couldn't help but stare at his posture, straight as an iron board, almost trained to be as straight as possible. He turned to the side, probably to scan the other side of the room, that's when I spotted the S.T.A.R.S. logo.

 _So, this is Chris's captain._ I thought to myself as the line moved forward. He was about three or four people behind me, which was far away enough for me to not be able to introduce myself. I was thinking of ways I could perhaps make a good impression, seeing that Chris was just hired on this month. As I was deep in thought, I hadn't noticed I was the next in line. As I got up to the counter the idea hit me.

"Hey Claire, back so soon?" Matt said, another old high school friend.

"Yeah this thing is worse than cocaine." I laughed as I pulled out my card. "Just a black coffee with vanilla creamer and sweetener."

"You got it." He said as he rung me up.

"Hey, can you do me a favor Matt?" I asked as he worked behind the counter vigorously.

"What's up Claire?"

"Can you charge my card on whatever the cop is ordering?" He looked up and noticed Captain Wesker looking aimlessly to the left.

"Of course, I can." He said with a small smile. I nodded, grabbing my cup of coffee and heading towards the door.

* * *

"Yo, Christopher, made your favorite." I said as I set the plate of grilled cheese on his desk. His desk was decorating with a photo of the two of us, our smiles bright along with Champion, our German Shepherd we had gotten as a gift from our family friend 4 years ago. He had a clutter of papers strewn across the desk along with his bobble head collection of football and baseball players. He had small lamp, more than likely a small light to help him write when he's alone rather than have all the lights on if he's working a late shift.

"I'm actually super excited to chow down on this bad boy." He said ask he grabbed the bread with both hands. He chomped down, his eyes instantly filled with joy and excitement. I gave a big smile, satisfied with the response I was getting and sat across from him.

"So, the new year is coming up, any plans?" I said, his mouth only moving to chew and his attempts to talk only resulted in pauses of him holding his finger up to speak.

"Honestly - we... we'll probably just watch the ball drop, that is if I don't have to work on New Year's Eve." He said grabbing a bottle of water from his mini fridge quickly. I nodded, standing myself now.

"Well, let me know because I don't want to spend my New Year's Eve alone" I said grabbing a bottle of water as well.

"You don't really even stay up long enough for it anyways." He commented.

"Yeah, well I'm a new and improved college student Chris, it's by law that I have to stay up for 48 hours once a month." I said uncapping my water bottle now.

"I'll be right back, I have to run some paper work with my partner, it'll be a second." He said standing from his chair. I sat across from him, waiting for a few minutes seeing he wasn't going to be right back as promised. I pushed myself off the seat, going around the office seeing the plain desks and saw that there was a room closed off from the rest of the team. The lights were off and the blinds were shut, everything silent in the office saved for my breaths. I saw a small plaque right next to the door with a few small engravings on the piece. I took a couple of steps forward to take a closer peak, curiosity getting the best of me.

 **Albert Wesker**

 **S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team**

 _Hmm, maybe he's on patrol duty._ I spun on my heel, going back towards the seat I was at previously. I picked up a random sheet of paper lying on Chris's desk, the one that looked the most interesting to investigate.

My eyes skimmed across the page, simple descriptions of a vehicle break in, nothing damaged, but just a few belongings missing. I flipped the page over, seeing the blank sheet of nothing and let out a sigh of boredom.

 _Maybe Chris has his Gameboy somewhere._ _Mario sounds way more fun than work, especially if he doesn't have supervision constantly like at his construction job._ I thought as I stood up, looking through the top left drawer. I shuffled around the pens and folders, surprisingly neat _. Surely Captain Wesker must get on their heads about cleanliness - this is nothing close to Chris's usual room, saved for the clutter of papers_. My mind drifted to what we'd have for dinner if he didn't have to work over, pizza for the third time in a row did not sound appealing one bit.

"Can I help you?" I jumped at the deep silk voice behind me. My neck snapped in the direction, seeing the similar blonde man standing in the middle of the office now. His brow rose, looking at me intently. "Well?" He inquired, his voice sharp and very demanding, aggressive to a degree, but not on the verge of attacking. It's like he knew he had control over the conversation and was confident in having his questions have answers.

"I-I came to see my brother." His brow creased, mouth tugged at the sides in a slight frown and ripped the report from my hand. His glasses dipped slightly down his straight nose letting me catch a glimpse of his eyes, steel blue.

"I've told Christopher to not leave his reports behind once already." He said, his fingers wrinkling the paper at the edges, his shaded eyes steered in the direction of the paper, surely scanning it for any errors or perhaps to even see what the report was about. It was silent for a few moments. I twiddled my fingers, feeling as if I was in the principal's office for bad behavior and was being scolded for my mistakes. "Do you know of Chris's whereabouts?" He asked.

"He said he was going to go with his partner really quick for some stuff. He said he'd be right back." I said seeing him nod his head subconsciously. It was quiet again and he grabbed another piece of paper on the desk.

"Was there an issue with my office?"

I was taken back, my brows creased just like his, but in confusion. "No, I wouldn't know. Why?"

"I saw you staring intently at the plaque." He commented. My ears felt red and I felt a rush of heat rush to my cheeks. I instantly felt my throat dry, fumbling my words for a moment.

"I- I was just looking around."

"As was I. Then I noticed you here when you shouldn't be." He quickly responded. His behavior was curt and almost snarky to a degree.

"Well I'm only here for a short amount of time since I'm on college break. Don't hold it against me to want to spend my remaining break let alone the new year with my brother." I retorted back. He looked up for a brief moment, his eyes scanning my face for a moment, almost as if he was robot trying to gauge my level of rage.

 _Shit I really did it now, damn it Claire, why do you always have to have something to say when you should just shut it. Chris is going to get it from this dude._

I kept eye contact, sticking to my guns at least and truly did mean what I said. I wasn't about to back down now, even if he was Chris's boss. After what seemed forever, but was only 7 seconds, a faint smirk creased his face. _Finally, some human reaction, but not the one I expected._

"What's your name miss? I never caught it." He said amused now. This dude was a full-on whirlwind, nothing less than a fist full of mood swings in the short amount of time I've met him.

"Claire Redfield. Captain Wesker I assume?"

"Precisely, you're a very naive, but brave girl. I like that." He said, my ears just as they cooled down got hot once more. _Where the hell was Chris?_

"Whenever you're trying to not get your lunch money beaten out of you, you learn to stand up to the older kids." He looked amused with my small comparison, placing the paper back onto the desk. He took a seat across from me and tilted his head.

"What's your major if you don't mind me asking?"

"English literature." I said. He nodded in approval, his hands interlocked, his chin in place over the back of his palms, interested.

"Who was it that made you fall in love with literature, was it Hawthorne or Austen?" I chuckled for a moment, intrigued with the choice of authors.

"Although I love Hawthorne, Golding and Orwell take the cake." I said. His brows quickly sparked in interest.

"Allegory genre? I never took you for such a morbid style."

"It's nice to have a realistic look in life." He seemed impressed, but it was hard to tell since he had his eyes still covered.

"Can I ask you a question since you've been asking them all this time?" He nodded, his hands were gloved.

It's probably for the grip on his gun. I thought to myself.

"Why do you wear sun glasses inside? Also, how long have you been in law enforcement?"

"Why do you ask?" His head tilted.

"Ask to what? The sunglasses inside or law enforcement?" I asked back.

"Both."

"Well, sunglasses inside is kind of disrespectful to others, it's kind of like spitting in someone's face. The law enforcement one is more so because you don't look very old like Bravo team's captain. I know Captain Marini must be at least mid 40's." I said. He let a deep chuckle escape him, a genuine one and had a small smile.

"Well, until I see someone to be worthy of me being courteous enough to take my belongings off for a form of respect, I'll continue to wear them inside. As for my age, don't you think it's a little rude to inquire such things?" A turned red, stammering for a second. I didn't think that part through and thought he'd take it more as a compliment than an insult. He seemed to enjoy this and sat back now, still straight, but now had his leg crossed over the other with his hand in his chin balled in a fist. "I am younger than Enrico, but I'm just 4 or 5 years his junior. I never bothered remembering his birthday, though I do remember he's a few years older than me."

"Did you have any previous training by and chance to joining S.T.A.R.S?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.

"Of course. I had joined the Armed forces for a little, got to get a degree in Biochemistry and did that for a few weeks, testing the waters in the field. I enjoyed the armed forces much more and there happen to be a new organization my former Major informed me of that needed a leader, hence why we are here today." My mouth tugged at the side, this sounded almost rehearsed. I did a quick nod, not convinced.

"What about you? Do you have a job?" He asked.

"Even if I did, it would be outshined by what you did. Chris doesn't let me get a job during the school year. He said he wants me to focus on school and doesn't want anything less than a 3.3 GPA." I grimaced remembering the stack of assignments that would be waiting for me a week from now. "He said that he'd take care of it one way or another so I shouldn't stress out about it."

"That's considerably considerate of him. He must have a lot invested in you then." He commented.

"It's not like I ask him to. He likes to take things into his own hands and make sure everyone around him is okay before checking on himself." I said and he nodded.

"What about your parents?" I stopped for a moment taking a sharp breath, it's been a while since I had talked about my family and took all of my will power not to.

"Car accident about 3 years ago. Chris dropped out of the Air Force to take care of me and had enough saved up to send me off to college. Barry helped him get this job so it's a lot closer to home than the construction job he had before this." I had shaky breathes escaping and felt my leg shaking up and down, trying my best to calm my nerves. "I'm sure you knew that though."

"Burton did recommend me Chris. I knew that he took a leave from the Air Force, but I never suspected that to be the reason." I grimaced and have a tight smile in confirmation. "I picked him since he had an impeccable record with the Air Force. If he had stayed longer he would have probably been a commissioned officer."

"Yeah, well he left to take care of his naive, but brave sister."

"I see why you like Golding and Orwell now." He said, touching up on my choice in books once more. I looked to see Chris rushing back inside with a folder of cluttered papers and a notepad in the other hand.

"Hey, sorry it took so long. Jill was talking up a storm-" He stopped in his tracks when he saw his captain sitting with such poise and elegance, catching him off guard. "Captain Wesker." He regarded him, instantly bowing and snapping back up.

"Christopher, how nice of you to join the two of us." He said, the emotion in his voice nonexistent, nothing like how it was just 5 seconds ago. Chris nodded in agreement with him.

"I can see you met my sister." He said. Captain Wesker nodded and pointed towards the paper we had between the two of us.

"Yes, I have. Clean your desk next time you leave company." Chris nodded, starting to collect the papers that very moment.

"It was very nice meeting you. I hope we meet in different circumstances and hopefully get a cup of coffee together. It'll be on me since you got me this time around." He said with a small smirk. I looked up in disbelief, a smile spread. He actually figured out it was me. I nodded, agreeing with his statement and stood, seeing his hand extended and giving his palm a firm shake.

"It was nice meeting you Captain Wesker."

"The pleasure was all mine, Miss Redfield." He said. His head tilted towards Chris now.

"Redfield." Chris stood straight, looking just as he did when he graduated basic and stood tall against us, he had a stone face and waited for further instruction. "Take the rest of the day off. Enjoy it with your brave, but naive sister."

Chris nodded and Captain Wesker turned his back towards us, going into his office and shutting the door along with the blinds. Chris let himself relax and let out a sigh of relief.

"So, you met my boss, tough guy, isn't he?"

A small smile slowly crept at his statement and I saw the small piece of good that was in Albert Wesker. I shook my head in disagreement with Chris and grabbed his small lunch bag he had with him preparing to leave, stuffing the small sandwich inside, Chris was surely going to get hungry later.

"He's very observant, but he's a nice guy." Chris looked at me with a quirked tug at his mouth, his brows creased in confusion and grabbed his keys from the right drawer.

"Whatever was in that sandwich, I want it every day."


End file.
